Juan Martin del Potro says he was not cramping, but suffering from a right quadriceps issue when he called for the trainer down 4-5 in the third-set tiebreaker of his 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4) loss to Jarkko Nieminen in Monte Carlo.
Del Potro’s camp claims he was feeling pain in his right quad while he was serving. Del Potro went to his chair, sat down and the asked chair umpire to call for the trainer, but the trainer didn’t make it to court quickly enough, so the chair umpire told del Potro: "If you want to play, you play; if you want to stop, you stop." Del Potro chose to play and lost the next two points and the match.
ATP rules state that a player is allowed to stop play at any time by claiming an acute medical condition, and even if it was determined by the physiotherapist and/or tournament doctor that it was cramping, the player will only be instructed by the chair umpire to resume play immediately and would not suffer a point or game penalty unless he was unable to play on. Del Potro did play on nonetheless.